Internet Link Monitoring

Monsta is a powerful tool to ensure the availability and performance of your company’s network connectivity. Monitoring internet links is important to detect connectivity failures and identify bandwidth consumption bottlenecks.

How It Works

Monsta monitors the internet link on the network interface of your local equipment where the link arrives.

1. Data Collection: Monsta connects to your network equipment (such as a router, firewall, or switch) and collects information from the interface configured for the internet link (WAN port). More than one port can be monitored simultaneously.

2. Metrics Monitored:

   • Interface Speed and Status: Indicates whether the interface is active (UP) or inactive (DOWN) and its connection speed, reporting if it becomes inactive or if the physical connection speed is below expected.
   • Traffic Volume: Measures the amount of inbound (Inbound) and outbound (Outbound) data in bits per second, metrics used for monitoring consumption.
   • Calculation of Transferred Volume: Monsta can calculate the total volume of data transferred over the time interval you select.

3. Processing: Collected data is stored and presented in charts and can be configured on dashboards for trend and historical analysis.

Creating Proactive Alarms

The main advantage of monitoring the link is the ability to configure proactive and reactive alarms based on the collected metrics.

Alarm Type	Threshold Condition	Impact and Action
Link Down	The interface changes from Status UP to DOWN.	Critical Alert. Indicates total connectivity failure with the provider.
Physical Connection Speed Reduction	The network interface reduces its physical connection speed due to a cabling issue or a problem with the network interface.	Warning/Issue Alert. Warns if the physical interface is operating below its full capacity.
Excessive Consumption (Bandwidth)	The traffic rate (Inbound or Outbound) exceeds a pre-configured utilization threshold (e.g., 90% of the link’s total capacity) for a period of time.	Warning/Issue Alert. Indicates that the link is saturated. The alarm suggests the need for bandwidth management or an upgrade to the link.

Practical example

If your link is 100 Mbps, you can configure an alarm to trigger when usage consistently reaches 90 Mbps.

Practical Configuration

To configure monitoring of an internet link in Monsta, follow these basic steps:

1. Add the Device: Create a device in Monsta to monitor your Router/Firewall.
2. Add the Monitors: Select the device and click the ”+” button to add the network traffic monitor and Interface Speed monitor.
3. Configure the Alarms: Select the created monitors and click “Edit” to configure the alert thresholds you want to receive.

Note

To receive notifications, remember to add an Alert Group to your device. For more information, see Alerts